These Hobbies Are Going To Turn Into Tech's Next Huge Industries

What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else
will do during the week in ten years

Many breakthrough technologies were hatched by hobbyists in
garages and dorm rooms. Prominent examples include the PC, the
web, blogs, and most open source software.

The fact that flip-flop wearing hobbyists spawn large
industries is commonly viewed as an amusing eccentricity of the
technology industry. But there is a reason why hobbies are so
important.

Business people vote with their dollars, and are mostly trying
to create near-term financial returns. Engineers vote with
their time, and are mostly trying to invent interesting new
things. Hobbies are what the smartest people spend their time
on when they aren’t constrained by near-term financial goals.

Today, the tech hobbies with momentum include: math-based
currencies like Bitcoin, new software development tools like
NoSQL databases, the internet of things, 3D
printing, touch-free human/computer interfaces, and
“artisanal” hardware like the kind you find on Kickstarter.

It’s a good bet these present-day hobbies will seed future
industries. What the smartest people do on the weekends is what
everyone else will do during the week in ten years.